Debbie Rowe: Why She Had Michael Jackson's Children - ABC News ABC News Debbie Rowe: Why She Had Jackson's Children By RICHARD GERDAU Email Thousands of Michael Jackson 's friends, fans and family members attended a memorial for the pop icon Tuesday in Los Angeles, but one person who was conspicuously absent from the ceremony was a woman to whom he had once been married and who bore his two oldest children -- Debbie Rowe . Play null For nearly a decade, Rowe had almost no contact with those children -- an estrangement, she told a court in 2001, of her own choosing. But increasingly, it looks as though Rowe will seek custody of Jackson's children , defying the singer's will and wishes that his two sons and daughter, ages 7 to 12, be cared for by his mother, Katherine Jackson. Watch "Primetime Family Secrets: The Children of Michael Jackson" Tonight at 10 p.m. ET As with the death of any monarch, the passing of the King of Pop has caused chaos in his empire.

But of all the rumors whispered and speculation spread, of all the questions left unanswered surrounding the death and life of Michael Jackson, perhaps most intriguing of all is how the most famous man in the world married and started a family with a cipher who worked in his dermatologist's office. It was 30 years ago that Rowe, a nursing assistant in the office of Dr. Arnold Klein, a Beverly Hills, Calif., dermatologist, first met one of his famed clients -- Michael Jackson . "I go 'Hi'. And he goes 'Hi,' and I said, 'You know what? Nobody does what you do better, and nobody does what I do better. Let's get this over with.' And he laughed, and we just became friends. It was just right away," said Rowe in a 2003 interview . The interview, much of which had never been aired before, was obtained exclusively by ABC News from F. Marc Schaffel Productions. Schaffel is a friend of Rowe and former associate of Jackson. The interview, like many of her statements in the first few years after her marriage and amicable divorce from Jackson, painted the singer as a loving father, to whom she was happy to turn over her children.

Not long after the 2003 interview, however, Rowe would take Jackson to court to have her parental rights reinstated. That legal maneuver, some say, may prove critical if she chooses to fight for custody of Jackson's children. Before their chance meeting, the closest Rowe, a Washington state native whose father was in the Air Force, had come to celebrity by being on the swim team at Hollywood High. Now, there were invitations from one of the biggest stars in the world. "He'd call and say, 'Hi what are you doing? Do you want to get a video?' We'd sneak out without security. We got caught. I thought, 'Oh my God! This is like a Beatles film. We're getting chased by people.'" Rowe and Jackson: The Early Years Rowe says that her early relationship with Jackson was fun and friendly but basically frivolous. She had recently come out of a first marriage and Jackson was about to wed Lisa Marie Presley. There was plenty of talk suggesting Michael's 1994 marriage to Lisa Marie Presley was merely an attempt to boost an image that had been tarnished by accusations of child molestation and a general perception of weirdness.

But some who knew the couple together said it was the real thing. Michael and Lisa Marie talked about having children together, and Lisa Marie's recent blog speaks of true love. During their marriage, Michael had a musical rejuvenation, releasing "HIStory," a best- selling CD that included the ballad "You Are Not Alone." But loving as it may have been, after 19 months, the marriage to Lisa Marie crumbled. Rowe said that left her friend Jackson devastated. "I was trying to console him, because he was really upset. He was upset because he really wanted to be a dad. I said,'So be a dad.' He looked at me puzzled. That is when I looked at him and said. 'Let me do this. I want to do this. You have been so good to me. You are such a great friend. Please let me do this. You need to be a dad, and I want you to be.'" It was an offer friends said had a built-in appeal to the King of Pop, who told them he wanted children with blond hair and blue eyes; Debbie Rowe fit the bill. At some point the bill would come due.

But Rowe said initially hers was a heartfelt offer to a generous and loving man she thought should be a father. "I believe there are people who should be parents, and he's one of them. And he is such a fabulous man, and such a good friend, and he's always been there for me, always, from the day I met him," Rowe said. Although she has consistently refused to discuss the couple's sex life, in this 2003 interview Rowe did say she was pregnant well before she and Michael were wed. "There were people following me, there were people in front of my apartment, and it's scary. I mean, yeah they want a picture, but why? Why? I found out at one point that a picture of me pregnant was worth half a million dollars." Among those making money on the pregnancy, it's been repeatedly suggested that Debbie Rowe was paid to breed Michael's children. She's repeatedly denied this -- but admitted there were certain natural benefits to being Mrs. Michael Jackson, a title she said she assumed for only one reason. "To prevent some of the taboo of a child out of wedlock.

The kids were going to have it hard enough as it was, and they didn't need to have that label upon them like their father has had so many placed upon him, they shouldn't." While Jackson was on tour for the "HIStory" release in Australia in 1996, Rowe and Jackson wed in a private ceremony. 'Michael Was Definitely More Excited Than I Was,' Rowe Said in 2003 Their first child was a gift, said Rowe, that she wanted to give her husband Michael Jackson. The package was delivered Feb. 13, 1997, at L.A.'s Cedars Sinai Hospital. "We were very excited. Michael was definitely more excited than I was. He was so excited when we had a contraction, and he was there. We had videos and music," Rowe said of the 23-hour labor. "But he was there the whole time. Held my hand, stroked my head." "I had a very 'colorful' language, and every time I went to say something, Michael would cut me off with words like 'shoot' and 'fudge.' He didn't like curses. He didn't think it was necessary when other words would do," she said.

With the birth of their first child, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., whom they called Prince, Rowe said that she never saw Jackson so happy. "And that's what made it wonderful for me was to see the look on his face," she said. Within three years of Prince's birth, Jackson and Rowe would divorce. According to court documents, Rowe gladly relinquished custody of the children. Rowe and Jackson: Untraditional Parents, Family For several years in interviews and court testimony, Rowe spoke highly of Jackson as a father and said that she had given birth to Jackson as a gift. "I didn't do it to be a mother. I didn't change diapers. I didn't get up in the middle of the night, even when I was there, Michael did it all," she said. "We had a boom box, you know, we had the music on, and conversation, wow, here comes another one, Michael was so excited! And he brought Prince, and I said, 'Are you sure he needs to be here?' So, this is like, you know. And he said, 'but this is so beautiful'.

In 2003, Rowe said that following the birth of their second child, a daughter, Paris, now 11, Jackson took the children and sent Rowe to live in a Beverly Hills mansion. "You know what Michael did? He got me the most fabulous place to live. If you read the tabloids, it's the enclave of the enclave, Beverly Hills, which I have no idea what an enclave is, if it's chic-chic it's cool. I don't know. It's wonderful, beautiful yard, a place for my dogs to run and safe. And I went home. I recovered in my new home," Rowe said. In the 2000 divorce, Rowe relinquished custody. In another hearing in 2001, she relinquished parental rights. In testimony before the court, Rowe said she had little contact with the children and wanted to remain out of their lives. "I did it for him to become a father, not for me to become a mother. You earn the title parent. I have done absolutely nothing to earn that title," she told the court.

It now seems eerie, but when lawyers asked if she had "ever considered the possibility if Michael should die, what would happen to the children," Rowe said she trusted Jackson to pick an appropriate guardian. "I'm sure he has a wonderful person in mind to take care of them," she told the court. Rowe vs. Media Perfect as Debbie Rowe said their personal arrangement turned out to be, there would be something their marriage couldn't survive -- the media attention surrounding Jackson. In death, and in life, Rowe said Michael Jackson was hounded, misunderstood and abused by the media. Earlier this week, Rowe hurled expletives at the media, who lambasted her outside an L.A. restaurant. She felt that way when she gave this interview six years ago. "You can only take lies for so long, and I have reached my limit, and that is why I'm doing this. I am tired of the lies, and I'm tired of the b***sh*it. He's -- the sad thing is that you guys won't get to see my Michael. And I feel sorry for you guys, because he is a very special human being. The personal Michael is indescribable. He's magnanimous.

He truly is in every way." "Had it not been for all the media stuff, I would have stayed married to him forever unless he finally got tired of me." Minimal as her involvement with the children had been during their marriage, after the divorce Debbie Rowe said it was her idea to keep the children's public faces hidden with scarves and masks. "That was my request, not his. Michael is very proud of his children. I am the one who is terrified someone is going to take his children. I said, 'You know what, I wear scarves, and it's no big deal. I said to pretend its Halloween,'" Rowe said in 2003. In 2002, Jackson had a third child with another surrogate, whose name has never been made public. That child, Prince Michael II -- also known as Blanket -- who is now 7, made headlines when Jackson dangled him over a Berlin balcony before hundreds of screaming fans. In 2003, Rowe defended Jackson and his actions, saying, "I thought, 'Oh wow, look at the new baby.' He had a death grip on that child.

That child wasn't going anywhere except right back in the room with him," Rowe said of the accident. "There's nothing inappropriate. It may not have been the best thing he's ever done in his life, but certainly I think it was made too big a deal of." She says the media "took it and ran. ... They blew it up into something it's not." Rowe Called 'Star Witness' in Child Molestation Case A 2003 accusation of child molestation led to a 2005 trial. Rowe was called by the prosecution, on the theory that a bitter divorce would make her a good character witness against Jackson. "The ones that were stunned were the prosecutors and the sheriffs, because they thought she was going to be a star witness for them, but she was a star witness for us," said Tom Mesereau, Jackson's lawyer. "I think they hoped she would say that Michael was not a good father because they were in the middle of a contentious divorce. ... She said in effect that Michael was a loving father, that people were taking advantage of him, and she really helped us humanize him for the jury," Mesereau said.

When Jackson was acquitted of all charges, Rowe was seen as someone still firmly in the Jackson camp. But after his death, a bitter split became obvious. Custody Battle Looms for Jackson Children Those close to the Jackson family now say this woman who seemed so willing to pass on the job of motherhood wants custody of the children she all but ignored. On June 29, four days after Jackson, 50, suffered apparent cardiac arrest in his Los Angeles rental home, a court granted temporary guardianship of Jackson's three children, ages 7 to 12, to their grandmother Katherine Jackson, 79. Another hearing will be held July 13 to reconsider the guardianship. Sources close to Rowe's lawyers have said her legal team plans to attend that hearing. Rowe's lawyers have not formally said she will ask a court to grant her custody, but Rowe last week gave an interview to a Los Angeles television station in which she said, "I want my children." Rowe has had little contact with her children, son Prince Michael, now 12, and daughter Paris, now 11, since she divorced Jackson in 2000.

Despite her absence in the children's lives, Rowe retained parental rights and legal experts said her biological relationship to the children gsve her a valid claim to seek custody. "Biology is very, very important," Judge Stephen Lachs -- the judge who restored Rowe's parental rights in 2003 -- told ABCNews.com. "It's a very important factor when considering custody. But it's only one thing. When a judge looks at the best interest of children, you have to look at all the factors," he said. "A judge is going to look at everything, including if there were settlements and how much they were for," said Lachs. ABC News' Russell Goldman contributed to this report. 0 Shares Debbie Rowe and Michael Jackson | Married Divorced Children Ex | FamousHookups.com Check out our New "Top 10 Newest Celebrity Moms" Relationship Information, Quotes, and Trivia Where and/or how did Debbie Rowe and Michael Jackson meet? The pair first met in the mid-1980s, when Jackson was diagnosed with vitiligo and Debbie was working as the nurse for Michael's Dermatologist. Why did Debbie Rowe and Michael Jackson break up?

Other Relationship Information about Debbie Rowe and Michael Jackson: Jackson says that Deborah wanted to give him children as a "gift." In early 1996 she was artificially inseminated, possibly through IVF, though she refuses to talk about the details. Whether it was with Jackson's sperm or an anonymous donor's - more likely given the light-coloured skin of the children she produced - Rowe is not saying. The couple married at the Sheraton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, in November 1996, when Rowe was six months pregnant with their son. The bride was 37, Jackson 38, and the best man was an eight-year-old boy. Their marriage was consummated with a peck on the cheek from Jackson, who retired - without her - to another room. There's no evidence to suggest the couple ever had normal sexual relations. The newly-weds returned to LA, but never lived as husband and wife. The original divorce settlement allowed her one visit every 45 days, though she later applied to the court herself to terminate her parental rights altogether, claiming it was in the children's best interests. Debbie spent many years treating his illness as well as providing emotional support.

They built a strong friendship, then became romantically involved. Originally there were no plans to marry, but following Rowe's first pregnancy, Jackson's mother intervened and persuaded them to do so. Michael later claimed that he was in such a rush to leave the hospital with daughter Paris in 1998 that he cut the cord and left with the baby covered in blood, taking the placenta with him in his haste. After the couple divorced in 1999, with Rowe giving full custody rights of the children to Jackson, they remained friends. Nearly a week after Michael's death, a will that he created in 2002 named his mother, Katherine Jackson, and his children as the beneficiaries of most of his estate. He left a portion of this estate to charitable organizations. Michael delegated the rights of guardianship and care for his children to his mother, as well. However, in the event that his mother died before him or was unable to be the sole guardian of his chilren, he delegated this role to Diana Ross, formerly of The Supremes, and the person who discovered The Jackson Five.

Michael intentionally left no assets to his ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, and made the same decision concerning his father, Joe Jackson, cutting him completely out of his will. On June 25, 2009, Jackson collapsed at his rented mansion at 100 North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles which his children witnessed. Attempts at resuscitating him by his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, were unsuccessful. Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics received a 911 call at 12:22 p.m. (PDT), arriving three minutes and seventeen seconds later at Jackson's location.He was reportedly not breathing and CPR was performed. Resuscitation efforts continued both en route to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and for an hour further after arriving at approximately 1:13 p.m. (20:13 UTC). He was noted to have been in cardiac arrest by the paramedics who attended him at his house. Jackson was pronounced dead at approximately 2:26 p.m. local time (21:26 UTC).

Rumors and news of Jackson's death broke web records, triggering a cyberspace traffic jam and creating severe traffic spikes to websites such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and Wikipedia. Vigils were held by members of the general public after the death. In August 2009, Michael Jackson's death was ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles Department of the Coroner. His death was attributed to lethal injections of the sedative, Propofol, which were administered by Dr. Conrad Murray hours before he was pronounced dead. A live public memorial service was held on July, 7 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California in honor of Michael which aired on multiple television networks. In attendance was family and friends, as well as thousands of fans who obtained tickets via an internet lottery. On September 3, 2009, a private funeral service was held at Forest Lawn Cemetary in Glendale, California for Michael that was attended by family, friends, associates and a host of celebrities including Elizabeth Taylor, Reverend Al Sharpton and Barry Bonds.

Add other Relationship Information Classic Quotes by Debbie Rowe and Michael Jackson about their relationship: "They have a relationship, and what people don't understand is his relationship with her is separate from his relationship with me. They're friends, they're very good friends...I am glad that they have a relationship together. I am glad to see them together; they have a lot in common." Debbie Rowe "The veils were my idea, not Michael's. I had kidnap threats when they were babies. I did not want them to be recognized. I'm not happy they've been photographed without the veils." Debbie Rowe 2/8/2008 "I don't need money. Michael and I are fine. I see him and the kids all the time. They live in Las Vegas now, just a three-hour drive away." Debbie Rowe 2/8/2008 "I'd never seen Michael so happy and that's what made it so wonderful for me. Of course it was artificial insemination. Paris was conceived in Paris, that's how she got her name.

Michael wanted to call her Princess, but I thought that was stupid." Debbie Rowe 2/8/2008 "I had so many problems when I was pregnant with Paris. After that I couldn't have any more children. Michael was upset about that, he couldn't understand it. He wanted more babies." Debbie Rowe 2/8/2008 "It always has been. Michael and I have always got on. I only divorced him because I wanted my life back. I couldn't cope with the constant pressure of fame. He's the genius, the famous one. Not me. I turned out two good-looking kids, but I can't sing, I can't dance." Debbie Rowe 2/8/2008 "I used to be an extrovert, but my marriage made me introverted. I was followed everywhere. I hated the fame. After I married Michael, it was hard to keep working. Staff at the clinic sold stories about me to the media. People were offered a million dollars for a picture of me pregnant. I even told my family to sell one; I thought they could do with the money.

But they refused." Debbie Rowe 2/8/2008 "[The kids] love music. They are very much into the arts. [But] I don't push them." Michael Jackson 1/2009 "I want to be the best father in the world." Michael Jackson 2005 "I didn't do it to be a mother. I didn't change diapers. I didn't get up in the middle of the night, even when I was there, Michael did it all. I did it for him to become a father, not for me to become a mother. You earn the title parent. I have done absolutely nothing to earn that title." Debbie Rowe 2003 "Do I want the kids? Hell no. Does it look good for me to ask for them? Absolutely. I don't want to look like the woman who gave away her kids and just forgot about them." Debbie Rowe 7/5/2009 The Two Short Marriages of Michael Jackson "Anesthetic Killed Michael Jackson." Crime.about.com. 8/24/2009.

Marriages: Lisa Marie Presley - May 18, 1994 til January 18, 1996 - ended in divorce. Lisa Marie and Michael were married in the Dominican Republic . Debbie Rowe - November 15, 1996 til October 8, 1999 - ended in divorce. Children: Prince Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr: Born in 1997. His mother is Debbie Rowe. Paris Michael Katherine Jackson: Born in 1998. Her mother is Debbie Rowe. Prince Michael Jackson II aka Blanket: Born in 2002. He had a surrogate mother. Presley -- Jackson Marriage (1994-1996): Michael Jackson's marriage to Lisa Marie Presley took place in De La Vega, Santa Domingo. Many believe that their marriage was a PR stunt to cast Jackson in a better light after allegations of sexual molestation charges involving a 13-year old boy. Jackson and Presley separated on December 10, 1995. Irreconcilable differences were cited as the reason for their divorce a month later.

Presley had two children from her six-year marriage to musician Danny Keough. Lisa Marie Presley: ""I do believe he loved me as much as he could love anyone and I loved him very much ... I became very ill and emotionally/spiritually exhausted in my quest to save him from certain self-destructive behavior and from the awful vampires and leeches he would always manage to magnetize around him. I was in over my head while trying ... He was an amazing person and I am lucky to have gotten as close to him as I did and to have had the many experiences and years that we had together." Source: Brian Orloff. "Lisa Marie: Michael Would Talk About His Death." People.com. 6/26/2009. Rowe - Jackson Marriage (1996-1999): Michael Jackson's November 15, 1996 marriage to Debbie Rowe, a former nurse, age 37, took place at a hotel suite in Sydney, Australia. She knew Jackson for 15 years before they were married, and was apparently six months pregnant at the time of their marriage.

Although she also cited irreconcilable differences as a reason for their divorce in 1999, on 4/27/05 she testified at the Michael Jackson trial that "[we] never shared a home; we never shared an apartment." She also stated that she had not seen her children in more than two years. Debbie had been limited to seeing her children only every 45 days, and then for only eight hours under the supervision of a nanny. After her divorce, she received a $1 million home in Beverly Hills, but had to sign a confidentiality agreement stating that she couldn't speak to the press or anyone in the public about "Michael, the children or our lives together." Michael Jackson Trial: 6/13/05: After a four-month trial, and about 30 hours of deliberations over a seven day period, the jurors acquitted Michael Jackson of all charges. 4/28/05: Debbie Rowe defended Michael Jackson as a "good father" who was "great with kids." She also described him as a victim of aides who were "vultures" who exploited Michael.

4/27/05: Debbie Rowe testified at the Michael Jackson trial that she was not rehearsed nor given a script in the rebuttal video she appeared in. It is expected that she will be asked more questions about the videotape on Thursday. 4/25/05: Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson's former wife, is set to be called to testify against him. It is expected that she will talk about being pressured into giving a scripted videotaped interview so she could have visits with her two children. 2/24/05: Jury selected: eight women, four men, ranging in age from 20 to 79. Reportedly, the racial/ethnic diversity is seven whites, four Hispanics and one Asian. Occupations of the jurors include head cashier, army widow, computer programmer, civil engineer, and a horse trainer. 02/07/05: The Michael Jackson trial was postponed for a week following a death of the sister of lead attorney Tom Mesereau. 01/05: A Santa Barbara County grand jury charged Michael Jackson with molesting a 13-year old boy, conspiring to commit extortion, false imprisonment, and child abduction. Jackson pleaded innocent.

12/04: A DNA sample was voluntarily given to authorities by Michael Jackson. CNN - Michael Jackson marries again - Nov. 14, 1996 LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Pop megastar Michael Jackson married the woman carrying his baby shortly after midnight in a private ceremony in Sydney, Australia, his publicist said. (764K/17 sec. QuickTime movie of the couple in April 1996) Jackson, 38, exchanged vows with Debbie Rowe, 37, a longtime friend and nurse to his plastic surgeon, said publicist Christine Holevas. "Please respect our privacy and let us enjoy this wonderful and exciting time," Jackson said in a written statement. Jackson, whose hits include "Beat It" and "Bad," was in Australia as part of the first leg of his "HIStory" world tour. The wedding took place 10 days after Jackson announced that Rowe was six-months pregnant with his child, which is due in February. It is the second marriage for both. In January, Jackson's first wife, Lisa Marie Presley, cited irreconcilable differences in a divorce petition to end her 20-month marriage to the pop star.

There was no information about the first marriage of Rowe, who lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Van Nuys. Jackson disclosed November 4 that Rowe was carrying his child. He denied tabloid reports that Rowe had been artificially inseminated and was paid $528,000 to carry the baby. But at the time there was no mention of wedding plans. "I am thrilled that I will soon be a father. ... This is my dream come true," Jackson said in a statement at the time. King of Pop Quiz Think you can remember every twist and tabloid turn in the life and times of Michael Jackson? Here's your chance to prove it. What Friends Are for What Friends Are for Pinterest A hasty wedding raises more questions than it answers WHEN MICHAEL JACKSON DECIDES to get married, he doesn’t exactly wait for June to roll around. On the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 12, Debbie Rowe—six months pregnant and apparently feeling it—said goodbye to her two beloved dogs, left in the care of neighbors in her Van Nuys, Calif., apartment complex, and boarded a jet bound for Australia.

When she touched down in Sydney—Wednesday afternoon local time, after 14 hours in the air—the 37-year-old dermatologist’s assistant was whisked by limo to the Sheraton on the Park hotel. There, she disappeared into the $2,750-a-night Presidential Suite and rested. The following day, Jackson performed to a sellout crowd of 40,000 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Then, around midnight, as the singer joined 30 or so associates at a post-concert party in a private room downstairs, Rowe slipped into something white and put on her makeup. At about 2 a.m., Jackson and a few pals made their way upstairs. The superstar sat down at a grand piano in the two-bedroom suite and played the Wagner march known to millions as “Here Comes the Bride” while Rowe entered and, after 15 years as Jackson’s friend, became officially embroiled in his strange—and increasingly troubled—world. “Please respect our privacy,” Jackson, 38, said in a release after the event, “and let us enjoy this wonderful and exciting time.” How many days had elapsed since Jackson confirmed that he and Rowe were expecting a child? Ten.

How many questions about the groom had been resolved by the hasty civil ceremony? Zero. The singer’s second marriage happened so fast, in fact, many people didn’t even realize he was already divorced from Lisa Marie Presley, 28, whom he wed in May of 1994 and separated from 20 months later. Their split became official last August, with no regrets on either side. “They fell out of love,” says Presley’s attorney John Coale. “Anything she feels is going to remain private.” Rowe is already finding out how hard it is to know both privacy and the King of Pop. From the moment she was thrust into the spotlight by Jackson’s announcement that she was expecting, she has had to live with speculation that her baby is in part a public-relations ploy. Friends of Jackson’s insist that the marriage and pregnancy have nothing to do with his reported $15 to $20 million settlement of a child molestation suit in 1994, a just-published book about that case, or a new civil case being pressed in Santa Barbara (Calif.) superior court by the alleged victim’s father. Still, even Rowe’s father has expressed skepticism.

Last week, Gordon Rowe, 67, a retired cargo pilot who lives in Cyprus, was quoted at length in News of the World, the racy British tabloid that reportedly broke the story of Jackson’s involvement with Debbie earlier this month. As published in NOW, Rowe knew his daughter was friendly with Jackson but was stunned when she told him of her pregnancy. “I said, ‘Isn’t this the same man who was accused of child abuse?'” Rowe reportedly told Debbie. As published in NOW, Rowe said Debbie dismissed the allegations. “She said, ‘None of the charges against him were proved.'” She reportedly did not, however, dismiss reports—denied by the Jackson camp—of artificial insemination. “Isn’t he capable of fathering a child like anyone else?” asked her father. “She laughed and said, ‘Michael doesn’t do anything like anyone else. Dad, you have no idea who the real Michael Jackson is. He is the most compassionate person I have met in my life.’ ” Rowe’s father has since issued a general retraction of his NOW statements. Her friends insist that Rowe is acting out of the goodness of her heart.

“I know she doesn’t want the publicity,” says Rowe’s pal Mary Colandro, 35, a tennis coach who has lived next door to Rowe for nine years. “She’s done all this for Michael. She told us she was having the baby for Michael as a friend.” She also told neighbors she was not artificially inseminated. “She said it was natural, and I believe her,” says Colandro. “On the other hand, she is Michael’s good friend. She is very loyal to him.” Until recently, Rowe’s life was hardly the stuff of which cover stories are made. Born in Spokane, Wash., to Gordon Rowe and Barbara Chilcutt in 1958, Deborah Jeanne Rowe had moved to California by the time she was 15. About that time, her parents were divorced, and, according to NOW, her father took off for the Middle East. Soon after graduating from Hollywood High School in 1977, Rowe began working in the Beverly Hills office of dermatologist Arnold Klein. One former patient is still grateful for the care Rowe gave her father. “She held his hand during the surgery,” says the patient, “and called to follow up. She is the right hand to Dr. Klein.

She really kept the business going.” In 1982, Rowe married Richard Edelman, then a 30-year-old teacher at Hollywood High. The couple moved into a condominium in Van Nuys, where Edelman started his own computer consulting business. According to a pharmacist with whom Rowe had developed a friendship over the years, Edelman was “too quiet” for Rowe, a woman who, he fondly notes, “used language like a trooper but was always very pleasant.” By the time their marriage fell apart in 1988, a major problem seemed to be money. In 1989, Rowe and Edelman filed for bankruptcy, with assets of less than $40,000 and debts of more than $73,000. To friends, Rowe has always seemed a good-hearted woman, most comfortable in jeans and T-shirts and not much makeup. She has two dogs, a golden retriever named Cuervo, after the Mexican tequila, and Harley, a German shepherd named for the motorcycle Rowe loves to ride when she’s not at the wheel of a truck. “If anyone has problems, she handles them,” says Colandro.

“She’s a great rescuer.” No doubt Jackson saw these qualities some 15 years ago, when he first met Rowe at the office of Dr. Klein, who was reportedly treating Jackson for vitiligo, a condition that causes skin discoloration through loss of pigment. Over the years, she and Dr. Klein accompanied Jackson on various world tours, and Rowe befriended the superstar. A few posters of Jackson popped up on her apartment walls, but no one was likely to hear Jackson’s “Billie Jean” blaring from Rowe’s stereo. “She seemed to prefer New Age,” says Colandro, “or easy listening.” Though Rowe dated several men in the years after her divorce, pals say Jackson wasn’t one of them. And as far as anyone knew, she was not in a relationship last spring, when Rowe surprised her pharmacist friend with the news that she was expecting a child. “I’m doing a favor,” the pharmacist recalls her saying, “for a good friend.” Most of her neighbors knew that the good friend was Jackson. He had just split with Presley in January, less than seven months after telling Prime-Time Live that he and Lisa Marie wanted to start a family.

Apparently, Rowe was ready to give Jackson the child Presley did not. At first their plan took an unhappy turn, friends say, when Rowe miscarried last spring. “She was really sad for about a week,” says Colandro. But her pharmacist friend says she quickly bounced back. “She’s that kind of a gal,” he explains. “She doesn’t get heartbroken.” As the world now knows, another attempt to conceive a child proved successful. But would Rowe raise the baby in her $840-a-month, one-bedroom apartment? Or would Jackson take custody and raise their child on his 2,700-acre Santa Ynez Valley Neverland ranch, complete with zoo and amusement park? How would the couple interact over time? Would money change hands? When it came to marriage, Jackson seemed to want to act first and figure out the details later. A week before the Sydney wedding, his lawyers contacted the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Jackson had show dates in Auckland on Nov. 10 and 11.) They filled out registration forms for Jackson and Rowe and asked marriage celebrant Anne Stubbersfield to be ready on short notice—which never came.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get to marry him,” she says with a laugh. “New Zealand could have been put on the map.” In the end, of course, that honor went to Australia, where, as Elton John told talk show host Rosie O’Donnell last week, “all the loonies get married.” (Now openly gay, Elton married a sound engineer, Renate Blauel, in Sydney in 1984; they divorced four years later in Britain.) But how loony is Jackson, really? If ever he could have been described as blissfully wacky, that no longer seems to apply. Three years after he was accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 1993, Jackson is still dealing with the fallout. Five former employees are suing him for wrongful termination, claiming they were threatened, harassed and forced to quit during the police investigation into the charges. A book on the case by author Victor Gutierrez—filled with legal papers, bank statements and photos—was published in Chile in September and has sold some 5,000 copies Stateside.

And though he negotiated the multimillion-dollar settlement from Jackson in 1994, the father of the boy Jackson allegedly had molested recently hit the singer with another $60 million lawsuit. According to one of the father’s lawyers, James E. Prosser, Jackson violated the terms of the settlement, which required him to make no public statements about the case, when he told Prime Time Live‘s Diane Sawyer last year that the accusations were “lies, lies, lies, lies.” In addition, the suit claims that anti-Semitic lyrics in Jackson’s HIStory album (which were later changed by Jackson, who issued a public apology) were aimed at the boy and his father. Jackson is, in other words, a man who could use a “great rescuer” like Rowe—and his friends know it. “She’s a really gentle person, very loving,” says Stephen Millard, marketing director at Epic International Artists, Jackson’s label in Australia. Adds another associate: “Lisa Marie had a mind of her own. Debbie is not involved in the limelight. She is very easygoing.” So easygoing that she spent her first day as Mrs.

Michael Jackson on her own—while her hubby, surrounded by his usual entourage of associates and kids, cuddled a koala at Sydney’s Taronga Park Zoo. Later, Jackson went, without Rowe, to the Australian preview of his new 35-minute film “Ghosts”, a horror/music video. At the entrance to the theatre, the singer was surrounded by fans, one of whom gave him a pair of blue baby booties, which he clung to during the screening. Rowe remained out of sight for the next few days as she, Jackson and several colleagues traveled from Sydney to Brisbane to Melbourne. Nor was she at the hospitals he visited, the events he attended or the concerts he gave. “She’s six months pregnant,” says a spokesperson for Jackson’s concert promoter. “She wants to rest.” Or hide. Rowe has been getting a crash course in what it means to do “a favor” for a famous friend—as have many of her pals back home. In Van Nuys, one old buddy has turned down tabloid offers adding up to $20,000 for private details of Rowe’s life. “I guess it’s about integrity,” says her friend. “But it’s hard,” he adds with a laugh.

His friend Debbie doesn’t have it easy either, being married to a man who once had too little childhood and now may have way too much money and freedom. If Jackson wants the world’s sympathy, he has a tough row to hoe, but if it’s advice he’s after, there’s no shortage of givers. In Christchurch, Anne Stubbersfield may have lost her shot at performing Jackson’s ceremony, but she still has words of wisdom. He should “think seriously” about his future as a husband and a father. Take classes in parenting. Get prepared. “You’ve got to be normal now,” says Stubbersfield. In his own way, Michael seems to be trying. KAREN S.

SCHNEIDER MONICA RIZZO, JOHN HANNAH and LYNDON STAMBLER in Los Angeles, JULIE BEUN-CHOWN, DENNIS PASSA and SHELLI-ANNE COUCH in Australia, KIRSTEN WARNER in New Zealand and PETER MIKELBANK in France Show Full Article Ten News | Michael Jackson marrying Debbie Rowe in Sydney (November 1996) - YouTube Ten News | Michael Jackson marrying Debbie Rowe in Sydney (November 1996) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Jan 15, 2013 A TEN News report about Michael Jackson marrying Debbie Rowe after one of his HIStory World Tour concerts at the SCG in November 1996.

Category Michael Jackson marries Debbie Rowe | World History Project Nov 15 1996 Michael Jackson marries Debbie Rowe During the Australian leg of the HIStory World Tour, Jackson married dermatologist nurse Deborah Jeanne Rowe, who bore him two children, a son, Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr. (also known as "Prince"), and a daughter, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson. The pair first met in the mid-1980s, when Jackson was diagnosed with vitiligo. She spent many years treating his illness as well as providing emotional support. They built a strong friendship, then became romantically involved. Originally there were no plans to marry, but following Rowe's first pregnancy, Jackson's mother intervened and persuaded them to do so. Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson's ex, has cancer - CNN.com Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson's ex, has cancer Updated 9:41 AM ET, Tue July 5, 2016 Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds. Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Jaime "Taboo" Gomez of the Black Eyed Peas revealed in November that he survived testicular cancer.

Hide Caption 1 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Actor Ben Stiller revealed in October he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014. The tumor was surgically removed three months later, in September 2014, and Stiller has been cancer-free since. Hide Caption 2 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer In August 2015, actress Shannen Doherty confirmed to People that she is undergoing treatment for breast cancer. She went public with the news after TMZ reported she was suing a former business manager, accusing her of letting the star's health insurance lapse. In August 2016, she said that the cancer has spread and she's had a single mastectomy. Hide Caption 3 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson's ex-wife and mother of two of his children, told Entertainment Tonight in July 2016 that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Hide Caption 5 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Former supermodel and reality TV star Janice Dickinson revealed in an emotional interview that she was diagnosed with an early stage of breast cancer in March.

Hide Caption 6 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Former Rolling Stone bass player Bill Wyman has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. An original member of the band, which formed in 1962, Wyman left the group in 1992. The 79-year-old is expected to make a full recovery. Hide Caption 7 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Hugh Jackman posted a photo to Facebook indicating he had been treated for skin cancer for at least the fourth time since 2013. Hide Caption 8 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh took to Facebook to reveal he's battling bladder cancer. In an apology to fans for canceling a pair of concerts, Lesh announced he's received treatment at the Mayo Clinic and his prognosis is good. Hide Caption 9 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer In August, TV chef and author Sandra Lee announced that she would have additional surgery to deal with complications from breast cancer. She revealed her diagnosis in May, and her longtime boyfriend, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, announced that he would be taking some personal time to support her through her double mastectomy.

Hide Caption 10 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell, 52, pulled out of the band's tour in June after his Hodgkin's lymphoma returned. Hide Caption 11 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Tommy Chong of Cheech & Chong, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012, told Us magazine that he is undergoing treatment for rectal cancer. As he did for the prostate cancer, he's using marijuana to take the edge off: "I'm using cannabis like crazy now, more so than ever before," he told the magazine. Hide Caption 12 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Sir John Hurt, known for performances in "Alien," "The Elephant Man" and the Harry Potter movies, told the British Press Association that he has pancreatic cancer.

The disease is in its early stages, he said, and he is "more than optimistic about a satisfactory outcome, as indeed is the medical team." Hide Caption 13 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Actress Rita Wilson, who can be seen on HBO's "Girls," revealed April 14 that she is fighting breast cancer and has undergone a double mastectomy. She thanked her family, including husband Tom Hanks, and doctors for their support in a statement to People magazine . Hide Caption 14 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Fans of singer Morrissey knew the star had been ill after he canceled some U.S. tour stops in June, but it appears the performer has been battling cancer. "They have scraped cancerous tissues four times already, but whatever," Morrissey said in an interview with Spanish-language outlet El Mundo . "I am aware that in some of my recent photos I look somewhat unhealthy, but that's what illness can do.

I'm not going to worry about that." Hide Caption 15 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer When former "Good Morning America" host Joan Lunden learned she was facing an "aggressive" form of breast cancer, she was determined to face her health battle head on. Knowing she would need chemotherapy, Lunden decided to remove her familiar blond hair before her locks could be affected by the treatment. "You know it's going to happen one of these days and you are wondering how or when," Lunden explained to People magazine , which she posed for without her wig in September. "So I just owned it." Hide Caption 16 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Former "Dancing With the Stars" co-host Samantha Harris was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. Harris told People magazine she detected a lump during a self-exam and then followed up with a specialist after receiving a clean mammogram. Hide Caption 17 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Actress Brittany Daniel of "Sweet Valley High" and "The Game" fought stage IV non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Daniel recalls in an issue of People magazine that her 2011 diagnosis "happened so suddenly," but she was able to face it with the support of her family. Hide Caption Famed journalist Tom Brokaw revealed in February 2014 that he had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma , a cancer that affects blood cells in the bone marrow. Hide Caption 19 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer ABC's Amy Robach found out she had breast cancer in November 2013 after she had a mammogram done live on "Good Morning America" for cancer awareness month. Hide Caption 20 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Radio personality Robin Quivers quietly battled cancer for months, but she had happy news to share with "Howard Stern" listeners in September 2013. On the show, Quivers revealed that her doctors believe she's cancer-free after receiving treatment, including chemotherapy. Hide Caption Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly was diagnosed with cancer of the upper jaw bone . "Doctors have told me that the prognosis for my recovery is very good," Kelly said in a statement from his former club . Indeed, in August, Kelly was told that he was cancer-free.

Hide Caption 25 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Actress Christina Applegate had a bilateral mastectomy in 2008. Doctors had diagnosed her with cancer in her left breast and offered her the options of either radiation treatment and testing for the rest of her life or removal of both breasts. Hide Caption 26 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer In 2006, singer Sheryl Crow underwent minimally invasive surgery for breast cancer. In 2012, she revealed she had a noncancerous brain tumor. Hide Caption 27 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer KISS band member Peter Criss sat down with CNN's Elizabeth Cohen in 2009, a year after his battle with breast cancer. The musician said he wanted to increase awareness of the fact that men can also get the disease. Hide Caption 28 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Cynthia Nixon not only joined the cast of Showtime's "The Big C," about a woman battling the disease, and portrayed a woman with cancer in the Broadway play "Wit" -- Nixon was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006.

Hide Caption 29 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer Zoraida Sambolin was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2013, and she chose to have a double mastectomy. Sambolin said that Angelina Jolie's New York Times opinion piece about undergoing the procedure gave her courage to share her story. Hide Caption 30 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer "Good Morning America" co-host Robin Roberts had been cancer-free for five years in 2012 after beating breast cancer when she revealed she had been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, also called MDS. Hide Caption 31 of 36 Photos: Celebrities battle cancer "Three's Company" star Suzanne Somers spoke with CNN's Piers Morgan in 2012 about her stem cell surgery and her bout with breast cancer. She was diagnosed in 2001, which is when she began researching alternative methods to reconstructive surgery. Hide Caption

Question: Who did Debbie Rowe marry in 1996
Answer: Michael Jackson